UPDATE: Calif. Man Who Punched Store Clerk In The Face Over Cigar Arrested

Kendrick Ruth, 35, the man suspected of viciously punching a clerk in the face over $0.41 was found and arrested as he was leaving a hotel in Long Beach, California, reports NBC LA.

Ruth was charged with robbery and assault , and his bail set at $100,000.

He is scheduled to be arraigned Friday.

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Authorities in Lakewood, California are on the hunt for a man who viciously punched 23-year-old store clerk Yadira Lara in the face over a $1.41 cigar, reports KTLA.com.

At around 1:15 PM PST, September 7, the man entered a local Chevron station and stood in line for a Swisher Sweet cigar, most commonly used to smoke marijuana. When he was told the price of the cigar, he handed the clerk $1.00. The surveillance footage shows him getting agitated when the clerk asks for the additional $0.41 and reaching over the counter to snatch it from her hand. When she moved quickly to keep it away from him, things turned ugly — literally — in the blink of an eye.

The man can be seen trying to grab the cigar out of the employee’s hand, but she was able to put it behind the counter out of his reach. She then asked the man to leave the store. “I just said ‘You need to get out’ and he just says the “b” word,” the clerk told KTLA. Instead of leaving, the man leaned over the front counter and punched her in the face with his right hand. The clerk, who did not want to be identified, says she was scared and also surprised that no one came to her aid. “No one did anything, not one of them,” she said. She still finds it hard to believe someone would punch her over a cigar. “It just got me really mad, like over that, really?”

Lara, who blacked out after the vicious punch, suffered a black eye in the attack, which happened to be the left eye she injured in childhood. She’s now left with permanent damage that could leave her blind, reports NBC Southern California.

The suspect was described as an “African-American man, between 35 and 45 years old, between 6 feet and 6 feet and 4 inches tall, weighing between 215 and 255 pounds. He has short black hair with a slight mustache and a black beard,” reports ABC Los Angeles.

PHOTO CREDIT: NBC Southern California

*If you recognize the man, you’re asked to call Los Angeles County Crimestoppers at (800) 222-TIPS or (800) 222-8477*